Chicano theatre has its roots in the wider spectrum of Spanish-speaking theatre in the US and Latin America. This unique type of theatre can trace its beginning back tot eh arrival of Spanish Conquistadors in the New World. Even priests brought with them religious plays to perform for the natives in the 16th Century. There is record of one of the earliest of these performances occurring in 1598 in the Southwest United States.Since then, chicano theatre lived in the multicultural peoples that came to make up a large part of the Western US. Cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco were major hubs of Hispanic theatre in the 18th Century. "By the 1920s Chicano theatre flourished from Los Angeles to Chicago" (Cambridge Guide to American Theatre). An issue for the Hispanic people coming was the language and culture dominated by the Anglo-European culture. Many Chicano plays brought to attention the difficulties of adapting to a new culture and language. They sought to shed light on the struggles this subculture faced while tying to stick their claiming America. After World War II, Chicano theatre took a hit and suffered from a low "level of activity" (Cambridge Guide to American Theatre). Recently, the Chicano theatre aligned with the Civil Rights movement of the US. The prominent Chicano playwright and manager, Luis Valdéz, "became the acknowledged father of the new direction in Chicano theatre" (Cambridge Guide to American Theatre). Valdéz later went on to establish El Teatro Campesino. In 1971, El Teatro Nacional de Aztlán (TENAZ) created a link between the Chicano theatre in the US and Latin America. Its mission was to educate the people on their shared heritage and goals. A unique aspect of Chicano theatre is that often times the plays had a mixture of Spanish and English and often the slang concoction of "Spanglish." Chicano theatre started as a gathering of people of a common culture to an Trans-American genre of theatre, and it still seeks to bring many diverse groups together by shining light on its diversity.
SLB Summary of Chicano and Ethnic Theatre
Chicano theatre has its roots in the wider spectrum of Spanish-speaking theatre in the US and Latin America. This unique type of theatre can trace its beginning back tot eh arrival of Spanish Conquistadors in the New World. Even priests brought with them religious plays to perform for the natives in the 16th Century. There is record of one of the earliest of these performances occurring in 1598 in the Southwest United States.Since then, chicano theatre lived in the multicultural peoples that came to make up a large part of the Western US. Cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco were major hubs of Hispanic theatre in the 18th Century. "By the 1920s Chicano theatre flourished from Los Angeles to Chicago" (Cambridge Guide to American Theatre). An issue for the Hispanic people coming was the language and culture dominated by the Anglo-European culture. Many Chicano plays brought to attention the difficulties of adapting to a new culture and language. They sought to shed light on the struggles this subculture faced while tying to stick their claiming America. After World War II, Chicano theatre took a hit and suffered from a low "level of activity" (Cambridge Guide to American Theatre). Recently, the Chicano theatre aligned with the Civil Rights movement of the US. The prominent Chicano playwright and manager, Luis Valdéz, "became the acknowledged father of the new direction in Chicano theatre" (Cambridge Guide to American Theatre). Valdéz later went on to establish El Teatro Campesino. In 1971, El Teatro Nacional de Aztlán (TENAZ) created a link between the Chicano theatre in the US and Latin America. Its mission was to educate the people on their shared heritage and goals. A unique aspect of Chicano theatre is that often times the plays had a mixture of Spanish and English and often the slang concoction of "Spanglish." Chicano theatre started as a gathering of people of a common culture to an Trans-American genre of theatre, and it still seeks to bring many diverse groups together by shining light on its diversity.